More British history and literary classics in new GCSEs

GCSEs will feature more British history, a study of classic literature and an
increased focus on spelling, punctuation and grammar as part of a major
drive to raise standards in schools, it was announced today.

This follows criticism from academics that a recent overhaul of the National Curriculum for five- to 14-year-olds was too focused on Britain.

The English literature GCSE will require pupils to study a “range of classic literature fluently”, making sure all children “develop the habit of reading widely and often”.

It will require pupils to study a whole Shakespeare play, instead of short extracts, and at least one 19th century novel from authors such as Dickens, Austen and the Brontës.

Pupils will also study a selection of Romantic poetry from the likes of Shelley and Wordsworth and at least one text from post-1918, the document said.

Ministers said the new English language GCSE would place a greater emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar. Marks allocated for accurate written English will increase from 12 to 20 per cent in the exam, it emerged.

Pupils will also be required to read texts from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries in preparation for an “unseen text” component in the exam.

But the syllabus suggested that digital texts – including blogs, emails and web texts – should not be used to make sure the focus remains on standard English. This comes despite the fact that the current GCSE introduced under Labour says that digital texts can be both studied and examined.

A new maths syllabus promote the idea of developing independent problem-solving skills, rather than setting types of questions that can be rehearsed.

Pupils will be required to apply the four calculation operations to integers, decimal fractions, simple proper and improper fractions and mixed numbers. They will also be expected to use powers, roots and reciprocals, it emerged.

The document said there would be questions on algebra, including the laws of indices, co-ordinates, perpendicular lines, exponential and trigonometric relationships, ratio, geometry and probability.

Education Minister Elizabeth Truss insisted that the reforms will end grade inflation and create "a world-class system so we can compete in the global race".

Mrs Truss told BBC Breakfast that the current system was not fit for purpose, saying: "What we can't do is we cannot carry on with a system that isn't delivering, where there has been rampant grade inflation and where international league tables tell us we have stagnated compared with the rest of the world.

"For too long we have pretended that students' results are getting better, whereas actually all that has been happening is that exams have been getting easier and there has been a race to the bottom between exam boards. We need to stop that happening now."

In addition to the GCSE course documents, Ofqual, the exams watchdog, also published a separate consultation paper outlining major changes to the structure of GCSEs, which are sat by almost 600,000 children a year.

It recommends:

• Assessing pupils entirely through an end-of-course exam taken after two years – abolishing the “modular” system in which courses are broken down into bite-sized chunks;

• Axing current "tiered" papers aimed at low and high-ability pupils, with all children sitting the same exam, possibly with the exception of maths and science;

• Making GCSEs entirely free of coursework other than in science where practical assessments will be retained;

• Scrapping the existing A* to G grading system in favour of a numerical marking scale from 1 to 8, with 8 being the top score.

Government sources insisted the change to grades was made to avoid straight comparisons with existing GCSEs and not to enable examiners to add grades 9 and 10 when large numbers of pupils reach the top mark in the future.

It is also understood that the qualifications are likely to retain the GCSE title and not be dubbed “I-levels” in line with a leaked report last week. They may be renamed GCSEs (England) to differentiate them from separate exams taken in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ministers are also planning to ask 1,000 pupils a year to sit a new “sample test” in English and maths – without school-level results being published in league tables. Results would then be compared to GCSE scores to check that grades in the latter were not being subject to inflation.

The changes will be announced as a major report by a cross-party group of MPs – published today – revealed that the GCSE grading fiasco of last summer was largely down to changes made by the last Labour government.

The Education Select Committee warned that the shift towards more coursework and a modular system created instability in the system, adding that concerns raised by exam boards “were not acted upon” at the time.

A senior DfE source said: “We are reversing the devaluation of the exam system that Labour and the unions encouraged.

“GCSEs will again be exams at the end of two years instead of being broken up into low quality modules. Coursework, corrupted by cheating, will be limited.

“Exams will test higher level skills – such as more essay writing, problem-solving and mathematical modelling – that universities and businesses desperately need.”

But teaching unions have raised concerns about the pace of the reforms.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: "We want all children to succeed in education, and we need exams that are rigorous. However, the haste with which Michael Gove is pushing through huge simultaneous changes to both exams and the curriculum carries major risks that will put last summer's English GCSE debacle into the shade.

"We particularly feel for the children in their first year of secondary school who are going to be Mr Gove's guinea pigs. They will have a single year being taught the new curriculum when they are 13 and then move straight into the new and untested GCSE exam syllabus at age 14."

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "We have always agreed that it is the right time to look again at GCSEs, and most of the changes set out by Ofqual seem sensible. Where we have concerns is in the proposed syllabus.

"Simply making exams harder does not guarantee higher standards or mean that students will be prepared for a job at the end of it.

"There is a difference between an engaging curriculum that stretches and motivates students, and harder exams, which for some students could lead to disengagement, boredom and failure."